Theater Here, improvisation is a form of live theater in which the plot, characters and dialogue of a game, scene or story are made up in the moment. Usually, the improvisers take a suggestion from the audience or draw on a source of inspiration to get started. Improv theater is unique because once you see a particular improvised performance, there will never be another show quite like it again; it is different every time. Improv performances can be based on comedy or drama. It is just like regular theater performances except the actors are performing without a script – they are acting, directing themselves, writing the plot, and interacting with each other the entire time, simply off the top of their heads and without any previous planning. ďƒ˜
Some of the more famous improv theaters and training centers around the world include i.O. (ImprovOlympic) in Chicago and Los Angeles, The Second City in Chicago and Toronto, The Players Workshop in Chicago, National Comedy Theatre in San Diego, New York and Phoenix, Upright Citizens Brigade, The Peoples Improv Theater, the Groundlings, BATS Improv in San Francisco, Wing-It Productions in Seattle, Philly Improv Theater in Philadelphia, Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, ComedySportz in Milwaukee, and Theatresports in Calgary, Canada. Among the well known U.S. university improv teams are the Strike Force Theatre at the University of Florida and Erasable Inc. at the University of Maryland. Improvisation found a home at universities in the 1980's where crowds were easy to find and teams could perform frequently. Now an improv group is a common staple of college extra curricular activities. Famous theater improvisers include Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, David Shepherd, Del Close, Josephine Forsberg, Gary Austin, Martin de Maat, Keith Johnstone, Paul Merton, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Robert Townsend, Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, Ross Noble, Wayne Brady, Jonathan Winters, TJ Jagodowski, and David Pasquesi. There are two types of improvisational comedy: shortform and longform. Shortform improv consists of short scenes, which include a predetermined game, structure, or idea that are geared by audience suggestions. Many of the shortform improv games were first created by Viola Spolin, based on her training with Neva Boyd. Whose Line Is It Anyway? is the highly popular shortform improv comedy television series which has familiarized American and British viewers with shortform. Longform improv, on the other hand, is an entire show that the perfomers put on based on short scenes that are interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Sometimes, kongform improv shows are a unique form of an existing type of theatre, for example a